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Listen to Time Warp on 89X - the long running classic alternative show airs Sunday mornings from 8am - 12pm ET. Listen on the radio (88.7) in Detroit, or stream it worldwide on the net. The Time Warp playlist archive is posted here.

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2006/01/31

Tool is busy finishing up work on their new cd. A couple of the Tool boyz will head out to Europe in a couple of weeks to kick off an international press tour. The new cd is expected to be released in April or May.

It looks like Tool and Depeche Mode will be headlining the Cochella Arts & Music Festival in Indio, California this year. DM will headline the first night, April 29th, and Tool will close out the festival on April 30th.

This has nothing to do with music, however, we hear that the U.S./Canadian border is handing out nifty miniature nerf-esque footballs in celebration of the Big Game...

2006/01/30

You'll have to wait a wee bit longer for the new AFI cd. Davey Havok says that the cd will now probably be out in the early summer. It was due out in the spring, so it only amounts to a couple of months more.

If you are an Interpol fan, you may want to check out the itunes music store. There's an exclusive live studio session that you can check out.

Hard Fi's cd, Stars of CCTV finally has a North American release date. The cd has been out in the UK since the middle of last year. On March 12th you'll be able to pick it up at your favorite record outlet. Keep listening to 89x to hear their current single "Cash Machine."

Hoobastank has settled on the first single from their new, as of yet untitled cd. It's going to be a song called, "If I Were You." Lead vocalist Doug Robb recently revealed in an interview that many of the songs on the new cd were inspired by Velvet Revolver's Scott Weiland. And not inspired in a glowing tribute sort of way. According to Robb, Weiland was less than cordial to him when both bands toured together last year.

2006/01/29

Last night the Manchester Vs. Cancer concert took place in the U.K. The concert was organized by Andy Rourke, who used to be the original bass player for the Smiths. New Order (who incidentally played a set of only Joy Division songs), the Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Happy Mondays, and Johnny Marr's new band The Healers were all a part of the concert. When the Healers took the stage they immediately launched into the ol' Smiths classic, "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out." Once the band finished the song, Marr invited Rourke to come up and join him on stage. Rourke agreed, and together the band played "How Soon Is Now." There you have it, a Smiths reunion, albeit not a full reunion. You can read all about last night's concert here.

A Smiths reunion with all of the original members will never happen. Morrissey and the ex-drummer Mike Joyce hate, let me repeat that, HATE each other. There is so much ugly drama that has taken place between the two of them! So the odds are not good that a true reunion could ever take place. Read about some of the Moz/Joyce drama here.

The Cult has decided to get back together. Ian Astbury has proclaimed, "everything must have its season and our season is upon us again." You can check out the Cult at the Emerald on March 19th.

The Sugarcubes will release two new dvds next week. One dvd features 12 music videos from the band, the other dvd is a concert that took place in 1988. Each dvd is sold separately and will be released on February 7th.

2006/01/28

So the Weezer boys are taking it to the silver screen. Pat Wilson and Brian Bell will be in an upcoming movie about Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol. Pat and Brian will be portraying members of the Velvet Underground. Pat will play John Cale and Brian will play Lou Reed. The film is still in the works. You can read more about it here.

Death Cab For Cutie will debut the next short film as part of their Directions project on Monday. "Soul Meets Body" will debut on Monday and will be available for your viewing pleasure until February 5th. If you haven't checked out last week's film, "Marching Bands of Manhattan" you may want to check it out while you still can. It'll only be on the site for a couple more days. Don't forget that the entire collection of the short films will be released as a dvd on April 11th.

Pete Doherty=One Big Mess

Is this a record? Doherty was arrested not once, but twice on Thursday. He was busted around five in the morning on Thursday, then later in the day, around 3pm, he was busted again. Both times he was busted on suspicion of possessing drugs. Doherty must be pretty used to all the police drama by now--he's been arrested about five times since the end of November. November 30th he was arrested for possession of cocaine and heroin. Then December 4th, he was arrested for having the whole spectrum of drugs--heroin, crack, morphine and marijuana. In January, there was an arrest for suspicion of possession, and then there were the two recent arrests this past Thursday. Wow. Friday, Doherty pled guilty to the possession of heroin. He's currently sitting in the pokey until his sentencing date on February 8th.

2006/01/26

Franz Ferdinand did their first ever webchat today on their official website. They goofed up a little with their time zone calculations. A couple of days ago their website said that the chat would take place today at 6pm. Well, apparently the chat actually took place at 6 this morning, so odds are you probably missed out on the chat. The entire chat has been posted here for your eternal enjoyment, so it is almost like you were there, except you can't ask a question. If you were too lazy/busy/whatever to click the link, here are some highlights from the chat:

They are going to start podcasting on their official site sometime in the near future.

Musically, the band is digging on the White Stripes cd, Get Behind Me Satan as well as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's latest, Howl

2006/01/24

The guitarist for Evanescence, Terry Balsamo, is recovering from a stroke. Amy Lee recently revealed on the band's official website that Balsamo had a stroke back in November. Apparently he was in the ICU for quite awhile, but he is making great progress now. Lee said that Balsamo constantly talks about making music and he even forced her to bring him a guitar to the hospital.

Finnish rocker VILLE VALO is unsure if he was raped after being given a date rape drug and robbed in a bar in Minneapolis last October (05). But the HIM frontman insists it would serve his attacker right if he was sexually assaulted - because he was suffering an uncomfortable condition at the time. Valo explains, "At that point I had a horrendous case of haemorrhoids - which often happens on tour - so it would have served that particular party right if they had taken their wicked way with me. "Haemorrhoids and all the evil things that happen in the anal area. That would have been my revenge."

Finnish metal band HIM prefer to indulge in group masturbation sessions rather than succumb to the allure of groupies, because they are scared of bedding a transsexual by mistake. Frontman VILLE VALO claims that joint viewing of pornographic channels on hotel televisions keeps their sexual desires at bay, and avoids any band members getting into embarrassing situations. Valo says, "There's always temptation, but it's not hard to resist. "In HIM we synchronise our watches by having collective masturbation sessions. It keeps the urges down. Thank God for hotel porn. "Why would I want to pick up a girl from the front row and go straight at it? Especially nowadays, you can never be sure - there's so many 'shemales' around. "Plus, I'm not so fast that I could do it in one night."

311 just announced the cities, dates and venues for their spring tour. The tour kicks off at the end of February, and will stop in various cities that they missed while on tour in the fall. They also just announced details for 311 Day. 311 Day is a big musical extravaganza that takes place on March 11th (when else?) of each year. 311 normally takes over New Orleans on 311 Day and plays a huge--usually over 2 hours long--concert to celebrate everything 311. It turns out that they couldn't find an appropriately large venue to play in New Orleans since the only suitably large venue sustained major wind damage from Hurricane Katrina and won't be open until the summer. Thus, the concert has been moved to Memphis this year. You can read all about 311 Day and the band's apology letter to the city of New Orleans here.

Morrissey has firmed up his schedule for his upcoming U.K. tour. The man, the myth, the legend will release his new cd, Ringleader of the Tormentors on April 4th, and his tour will kick off a couple of weeks after the cd comes out. According to Morrissey's people, there will be a North American tour. He'll probably be on this side of the pond sometime during the summer.

2006/01/21

Only a few more hours until SNL. I only care about SNL this week because I can't wait to see the Strokes. Once the show is over the Strokes will be heading overseas for some touring. They'll be back in early March for a U.S. tour. They've booked a handful of dates, (lookie here), but so far there is no Detroit date. I'm sure they will add in a Detroit date at some point, so wipe your tears and fire up your Tivo tonight.

The Warped Tour updates keep pouring in. Aiden and Joan Jett have been added to Warped this year. They will be on the tour along with Rise Against, Thursday, From First ToLast, Underoath, The Bouncing Souls, Armor For Sleep, Anti-Flag, Motion City Soundtrack and NOFX. Not all the bands will be doing all the dates, so once the Detroit info is finalized you know I'll hook you up with the goods.

2006/01/19

MTV2 is going to air a concert special on HIM this Saturday, January 21st. The show is called Live In Detroit and I would bet that it features highlights from the band's November appearance at the State Theater. Heck, if you went to the show, maybe you'll even be able to see yourself on tv. Now wouldn't that rock? HIM:Live In Detroit premieres on MTV2 at 8pm Saturday.

Elefant is gearing up for a new cd and a new tour. Their new cd, Black Magic Show will drop in April, but the guys can't wait that long to go out on the road. Their North American tour kicks of February 5th. No Detroit date has been scheduled yet, but hopefully one will be soon.

Death Cab For Cutie is going back on the road for another North American tour, but no official dates have been announced yet. They have, however, revealed the release date for their new DVD. The DVD is called Directions and will be released on April 11th. Directions will contain a short video for every song on Plans. Death Cab will actually premiere each short film on their website over the next month or so, but they will make the whole collection available on on DVD for your endless viewing in April. The first short film is "Marching Bands of Manhattan" and is set to debut on the band's official website on Monday, January 23rd.

2006/01/18

You should check out Rolling Stone online for a revealing story/interview on Stappy from Creed. I knew the guy was getting drunk and popping off, but I had no idea he was addicted to drugs as well. I'm definitely sorry that I missed the infamous episode of Casino Cinema on Spike Tv, but I guess that's what I get for hating poker...especially poker on tv. You can read all about the highs and lows of Stappy here.

It's also good to know that Mark Tremonti (the ex-guitarist from Creed) has pretty much nixed the idea of a Creed reunion. He told Rolling Stone, "I haven't listened to a Creed song in years. I can't stand it. I wouldn't want to play those songs again. It was a complete nightmare." My thoughts exactly.

Whoops. The Warped Tour kickoff is June 16th in Columbus, Ohio. I've tried to edit the post from yesterday that erroneously said July 16th, but weird wysiwyg drama is going on. So here, I've made a brand new post to reflect the correct kickoff date. Happy, you stupid computer?

2006/01/17

The Warped Tour is set to kick off on June 16th in Columbus, Ohio. It looks like the Detroit date is going to be July 29th, which turns out to be a Saturday. Warped has been on a Sunday for the last 5 years or so, so it's good to finally have a Saturday Warped show. The venues for the tour have not been finalized, so check back for updates. You can also check out the official Warped Tour website for updates: http://www.warpedtour.com/index2.html

During the last update I told you about the new Red Hot Chili Peppers cd. Well, it turns out that there's a new official release date. Stadium Arcadium will now be in stores on May 9th. Did I mention before that it's going to be a double cd? I think I did. Originally this was going to be a triple cd, but apparently the boys realized that a trilogy release would necessitate another 8 or 9 months to finish, and they want it out now. So a double cd it is.

Are you digging on the new Hawthorne Heights single? It's called "Saying Sorry" and it can be heard on 89x. The new single is off the forthcoming cd, If Only You Were Lonely, which will drop on February 28th. Why not watch the video for "Saying Sorry" on AOL now? http://music.aol.com/videos/newthisweek.adp?icid=videos:new Don't forget that you can catch Hawthorne Heights opening up for Fallout Boy at the Palace on April 20th. Tickets went on sale last week, so get 'em while they're still available. Oh, and if you like to roadtrip, the Fallout Boy tour will make its way to the Deltaplex in Grand Rapids on March 21st.

The crazy folks at MTV's TRL actually booked some decent acts this week. Apparently it's time for another Spankin' New Music Week or something. Today you missed out on AvengedSevenfold, but I'm giving you advance warning for tomorrow's show: Tomorrow it is the AllAmerican Rejects and Yellowcard. On Thursday, Coheed & Cambria play live, Fallout Boy stops by for an interview, and POD will premiere their new video. Then on Friday, POD will close out the week with a live performance. Check out www.mtv.com for more info. Happy viewing.

Beware--Stappy will be in the area on March 10th. He's out on the road pimping his new sucky solo cd. So steer clear, or at least remember that you were warned.

Morrissey is still hard at work on his new cd. Ringleader of the Tormentors is being polished up in Rome as we speak. It looks like Moz has picked the first single from the cd. Apparently the single is a cheery little number called, "You Have Killed Me." Look for Morrissey's 9th solo cd to drop on April 4th. And wipe that scowl off your face, it looks like Moz will be in the U.S. over the summer.

The Ministry/Revolting Cocks spring/summer touring extravaganza will make a stop in Detroit after all. The tour kicks May 5th in Houston and will be stopping by Harpos on June 24th. Ministry's new cd, Rio Grande Blood will be out in April, so look for it then. Oh, and they are also up for a Grammy, believe it or not. The Great Satan has been nominated for Best Metal Performance.

2006/01/07

I'm thinking that the new Red Hot Chili Peppers cd better be good...damn good...a masterpiece even! They've been tinkering in the recording studio for the longest time. Hey, what's taking so long anyway? It turns out that the new RHCP cd will actually be a double cd, so maybe that's been part of the holdup. Stadium Arcadium is due out sometime in the spring, however no official release date has been set. Stay tuned.What a party! Apparently our buddy Marilyn Manson just had a big, batty birthday party. Manson's wife Dita Von Teese decided to throw Manson a goth party he'd never forget. Dita decided to make the party extra special by purchasing 20 bats. No, not baseball bats, but the black beasts that fly around and look cool around Halloween. So anyway, Dita bought about 20 of them and released them at the party so they could fly around and add to the already spook-tastic ambience. Fun times. Happy 37th birthday Marilyn Manson.

Oh, and why not continue your stroll down memory lane with these stories from 2005??

System of a down—The band released 2 cds in 2005—Mezmerize and Hypnotize. System became the first band to have 2 cds debut in the number one position in the same calendar year. Go team!

Fred Durst—his sex tape made its way online! When asked about it Fred snarked, “what can I say, I’m not proud of it.” Yeah, proud really wouldn't be the word I'd use either! A couple of weeks later he filed an 80 million dollar lawsuit against various websites that posted footage and stills from his sexxcapade. Sadly for Durst, more people cared about the sexxcapade drama than the new Limp Bizkit cd, The Unquestionable Truth. To date, the cd/ep has sold less than 50,000 copies.

Korn—After 13 years with Korn, Brian “Head” Welch left the band in February 2005 to devote his life to Christianity. Jonathan Davis said, “good luck bro—Korn will keep polluting the world as long as we have fans.” Davis and the gang later hired guitarist Rob Patterson to take over for Welch, but the newbie Korn has to stand backstage and play the guitar parts while the rest of the band rocks onstage. That’s just so Wizard of Oz.

The Used & My Chemical Romance recorded a cover of the Queen/David Bowie classic “Under Pressure” (you know, the song that Vanilla Ice stole, er, sampled). It was released as a charity single to benefit victims of the tsunami. Months later Bert McCracken from the Used told MTV that he and Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance had a falling out and don’t speak anymore. Now whatever could the tiff have been about???

Billy Corgan—his debut solo cd, The Future Embrace was released in June. The very same day of the cd's release, Corgan took out full page ad in a Chicago newspaper to reveal he would be reuniting the Smashing Pumpkins in the near future. Hmmm…was this just a kwazy publicity stunt to sell more of his solo records? Maybe, maybe not. He certainly didn’t want to walk down memory lane on his solo tour over the summer. He got pretty bent out of shape when fans at the shows asked for Pumpkins songs. Corgan roared at the crowd, “can I live my life for today” then stomped off stage!

Corgan may have wanted to get the Smashing Pumpkins back together, but he had no such intentions for his other old band, Zwan. Corgan said some not so very nice things about ex-Zwan bandmates! He hissed, “I’ll never go anywhere near those people—I detest them!” He also went on to claim that some of his ex-bandmates used heroin.

...hang the dj

...hang the dj is the headquarters for my old radio show Time Warp, which aired on 89X radio until March 2017. I am currently hosting a new, independent, internet-based version of Time Warp. New episodes post Sunday mornings around 9am ET. Stream the show archives here or here.

...hang the dj is a music blog serving as a complement to my streaming program. As such, mostly old school and classic alternative bands are featured, however occasionally new music from shoegaze, dream pop, psych, post-punk, and darkwave genres will be featured. If you have a worthy music project that fits one of these genres, feel free to get in touch via email.